November 05 2015

A ceremonial groundbreaking was held in September for the redevelopment of the Universal Life Insurance Company Building, an Egyptian Revival structure designed and built in 1949 by Tennessee’s first African-American architectural firm McKissack & McKissack. The facility, listed in the National Register of Historic Places, is owned and being developed by Juan Self (current TPT Board Member) and Jimmie Tucker of Self + Tucker Architects. The building housed the Universal Life Insurance Company (ULICO) founded by Dr. Joseph E. Walker, J.T. Wilson, M.W. Bonner, Dr. R.S. Fields and A.W. Willis in 1923. The Company’s mission was to build a service institution that would bring jobs and financial assistance to the African-American community during a period when segregation limited access to the mainstream business sector. The ULICO was remarkably successful in its mission and became the second African-American insurance company to attain million-dollar status and the fourth largest African-American owned business in the U. S. The Company served as a catalyst for social equality and economic prosperity for African-Americans nationwide.

October 23 2015

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Jimmie Tucker of Memphis will participate in the Delta Regional Authority’s eleventh class of the Delta Leadership Institute Executive Academy. Tucker, managing principal for Self + Tucker Architects, will join other DLI fellows from each of the eight Delta region states. Participants are nominated by their respective governors to participate in the year-long leadership training program.

“Our communities and region need strong local leadership to continue to grow and thrive. This is why DRA has made investing in our leaders a priority,” said Chris Masingill, Federal Co-Chairman of the Delta Regional Authority. “I’m very proud of this class and what they have already accomplished in their own communities. DLI will only further prepare them to continue to lead.”

September 15 2015

Officials have scheduled a ceremony Sept. 29 to mark the start of renovation on the historic Universal Life Building near Downtown Memphis.

The vacant 66-year-old building will be repurposed to house Self-Tucker Properties LLC and agencies that work with black and minority entrepreneurs.

Memphis city officials have committed more than $1 million in grants and steered nearly $2 million in bonds for energy-efficiency improvements to the $6.2 million renovation planned by architects Juan Self and Jimmie Tucker. The event is scheduled to begin 10 a.m. Sept. 29 in the building at 480 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue.

September 10 2015

Clean energy is revitalizing communities and improving lives across our state, and Memphis is no exception. Clean energy jobs – which include trades such as installation of solar panels and energy efficient windows and HVAC equipment, in addition to manufacturing, accounting, management and more – represent not only a promising way to reduce unemployment, but also a path out of poverty for lower-wage earners looking to make a change for the better.

According to research by Environmental Entrepreneurs, clean energy jobs across the country provide wages that are 13 percent higher than the median U.S. wage. By adding higher-paying jobs, the clean energy industry is helping to improve our local economy, which benefits all Memphians.

June 20 2015

T.O. Fuller State Park in Southwest Memphis was the first state park opened for African Americans east of the Mississippi River and just the second park of its type across the country.
The 1,138 acre park, originally built to house African Americans during the Great Depression, was designated Shelby County Negro Park in 1938. The name was changed to T.O. Fuller State Park in 1942 in honor of Dr. Thomas O. Fuller, a prominent African American educator who spent most of his life empowering and educating black Americans during the era of racial segregation by law.

June 02 2015

The Retrofit
Pedestrians are the beneficiaries of the airport’s convenient plaza between the terminal and the new Consolidated Ground Transportation Center. Portions of an existing short/long-term parking structure were removed to create an attractive, canopy-covered atrium with moving walkways, water features, landscaped areas and outdoor speakers that broadcast music from local artists. Its electrical and mechanical systems are controlled from the airport’s central control system.

May 07 2015

Paige Marcantel, a licensed clinical social worker, served as a grief counselor for Baptist Memorial Hospital for several years before becoming a stay-at-home mom two years ago.

But when the opportunity to help local families dealing with child rearing issues and trauma arose – everything from disrespectful behavior to more serious issues like divorce, addiction and domestic violence – Marcantel couldn’t turn it down.

April 19 2015

Universal Life Insurance Co. was a business incubator, proving ground for young executives and source of middle-class jobs for black Memphians when segregation barred most doors to opportunity. When the company’s headquarters went vacant in 2001,many feared the imposing Egyptian Revival building at Danny Thomas Boulevard and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue wouldn’t survive as a symbol of African- American hope and pride.

April 17 2015

Universal Life Insurance Co. was a business incubator, proving ground for young executives and source of middle class jobs for black Memphians when segregation barred most doors to opportunity.

When the company’s headquarters went vacant in 2001, many feared the imposing Egyptian Revival building at Danny Thomas and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard wouldn’t survive as a symbol of African-American hope and pride.

April 14 2015

Developers were approved for two financial incentives at Tuesday’s Center City Revenue Finance Corp. meeting for the redevelopment of the historic Universal Life Insurance Co. building Downtown, and a City of Memphis resource center was revealed as a tenant.
Self Tucker Properties LLC was approved for a nine-year payment-in-lieu-of-tax incentive for its $6.2 million renovation to turn the Universal Life building into mixed-use office space. The PILOT can be extended to up to 13 years with the addition of public art, architecturally enhanced lighting and LEED certification.

April 08 2015

Plans to transform one of the city’s most prominent black business landmarks have been submitted to the Downtown Memphis Commission.
Jimmie Tucker and Juan Self of Self Tucker Architects are planning to redevelop the Universal Life Insurance Co. building at the corner of Danny Thomas Boulevard and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue into a mixed-use office and commercial space. Tucker and Self acquired the building in 2006.

February 20 2015

From innovative conversion and renovation projects to the construction of large new facilities from the ground up, construction is a driving force in the Greater Memphis economy.
Memphis Business Journal is proud to highlight the best projects annually, and the finalists for this year’s Building Memphis Awards are very impressive.

Below are the finalists for the Best Public / Private Project small category
This program seeks to recognize all of the professionals who collaborate to make these projects successful.

February 10 2015

In honor of Black History Month - SACE is publishing a blog series highlighting the efforts of African American leaders working to ensure that clean energy opportunities are available for all people and communities in the Southeast. This post is the second in a series; find additional posts here.
As one of the founding principals of a successful architectural firm in Memphis, Tennessee, Jimmie Tucker has made it his mission to improve the buildings and lives of Memphians. Self + Tucker Architects (STA) is celebrating twenty years in business this year and STA has created many well designed and energy efficient buildings throughout the Mid-South since 1995.

October 29 2014

Mayor Michael Nutter welcomed architects from around the nation to Philadelphia for the 42nd Annual National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA) International Conference and Exhibition held 10.02-04.14. William Stanley, FAIA, chancellor of the AIA College of Fellows, and 2016 AIA President-elect Russell A. Davidson, FAIA, participanted in the conference at the historic 1932 PSFS Building, designed by William Lescaze and George Howe, now restored and known as Loews Philadelphia Hotel. The conference theme was “For the LOVE of it,” appropriate for the City of Brotherly Love.

August 22 2014

My name is Virgil Deanes III, and I’m a 5th year student in Hampton University’s 5 ½-year 1st professional Masters of Architecture program. As a student of architecture, uncertain of the expectations of a professional in the field, I found myself ‘going through the motions’, comprehending the learned material and then performing to the professor’s standards to achieve the highest mark possible. However, it wasn’t until I was able to practice in a professional environment when I could thoroughly understand how those tools are to be applied.

August 15 2014

Big to small scale, STA always has a variety of projects simultaneously progressing at once. Characterizing the smaller scale projects, Bright Ideas Enrichment Center consisted of two sheets. The demo plan was drawn from site sketches and the rated partition detail sheet required research for the necessary detailing information. Broadening the scale of projects, Leila Mason was centered on solving site issues. Conversations with local engineers, we had to create a site that solved major issues like drainage and vehicular circulation. Riverside Missionary Baptist Church, the grandeur scale project, required an abundant amount of time an effort by the STA team. From creating reflected ceiling plans, interior elevation for dressing room cubicles, casements details and sections, this is not even a small taste of what is necessary in completion of a project this size.

August 11 2014

My summer internship at STA has been truly a rewarding learning experience. I am currently entering into my 13th week as a summer intern and with each passing week I have grown both personally and professionally. Not only is this my first
internship, but this is my first job in a professional setting. Therefore, many of the challenges and opportunities I faced were brand new to me. The lessons and practices I have learned in the past 13 weeks is something I would never have been able to learn from a textbook or a classroom.

August 11 2014

Exiting my third year of architecture school and entering fourth year is a time where work experience and real life applications of architecture is very important. This is my third summer at Self + Tucker architects and each summer is very different. To be able to see the vast differences between this summer and the summers before concerning my varying levels of skill allows me to really see the difference just one year of architecture school makes. Being an intern at STA allows me to realize in hindsight, all that I have retained especially from my third year of architecture school.

July 28 2014

MEMPHIS, TN – National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) announced this week that the City of Memphis is one of 66 cities to receive Our Town grants totaling more than $5 million. Memphis will receive $150,000 to develop a master plan, design guidelines and public art for the proposed Memphis Heritage Trail.

“This grant is a great start on the path to making the Memphis Heritage Trail a high quality development that will draw visitors from around the world to our city to experience and enjoy our rich history and culture,” said Mayor A C Wharton, Jr. “We are grateful that the National Endowment of the Arts recognizes and supports this valuable project.”

July 25 2014

The $93 million public housing redevelopment of Cleaborn Homes for 362 new apartments in Downtown Memphis entered its final stretch this week.
Birmingham, Ala.-based general contractor Capstone Building Corp. pulled 22 permits – a total value of $8.1 million – to launch the final, 67-unit phase of the Hope VI project Cleaborn Pointe at Heritage Landing. The complex is a few blocks southeast of FedExForum across Lauderdale Street from Foote Homes near Vance Avenue.

April 05 2014

MEMPHIS, Tennessee (Reuters) - The National Civil Rights Museum, housed in the converted motel where Martin Luther King Jr.was assassinated, reopened on Saturday after a $27.5 million renovation, offering new interactive exhibits chronicling the civil rights movement.
The museum reopened one day after the 46th anniversary of King’s death. On April 4, 1968, the civil rights leader was shot and killed while standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Hotel in downtown Memphis.
About 200,000 people visit the museum each year, including 50,000 to 60,000 school children.
The exhibit begins with a global perspective of the slave trade, where panels track the path and the numbers of people captured and traded, and the wealth their labor created.

April 05 2014

The main section of the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tenn. reopens to the public on Saturday, one day after the 46th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.

The civil rights leader was gunned down April 4, 1968, while standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel, which is now part of the museum complex.The museum has undergone a $27.5 million renovation and now includes short films, interactive displays and new exhibits, including one recreating a slave ship galley and another portraying the courtroom where legal arguments were presented that led to the landmark Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court ruling in 1954.

April 01 2014

MEMPHIS — The climax of the sweeping new exhibition at the National Civil Rights Museum here is almost painfully mundane. An open container of milk and a half-drunk cup of coffee sit on a table near a 1960s television topped by rabbit-ear antennas. A peach-colored bedspread is pulled back, and the remains of a catfish lunch are nearby. Pale yellow curtains are open to the balcony outside. We are looking at Room 306 of the Lorraine Motel.

This is the room that the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. left for a moment on April 4, 1968, to go to the balcony. That was when James Earl Ray, an escaped convict with a heritage of hatred, aimed a rifle and took his shot.

March 21 2014

The headquarters for Freedom Summer is still being set up and nearby the stage is almost ready for the March on Washington.
The almost-finished exhibit on the black power movement includes an interactive media table that is as bold as the moments and cultural history it offers.
Enough of the $27 million renovation of the National Civil Rights Museum is in place to see that it is not the museum that opened in 1991. It is more.
And the first major renovation of the institution built around the old Lorraine Motel where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968 was more than adding new exhibits and sprucing up others.

March 19 2014

Many of the exhibits at the newly renovated National Civil Rights Museum were still unfinished. But there was enough in place to give the more than 30 journalists who previewed the museum Wednesday an understanding of the new methods officials have found to educate visitors.
The $28-million refurbishment has created a museum that is now bright, more open and mostly interactive. The museum at the Lorraine Motel where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968 reopens April 5 with a $5 admission price.

March 18 2014

Rarely is the remix as good as the original.
But the nearly $28 million renovation of the National Civil Rights Museum is much more impressive than the building that opened in 1991.
In a sneak peek Tuesday afternoon, museum spokesman Connie Dyson showed how designers skillfully merged interactive technology with the familiar favorites of repeat visitors.

February 03 2014

The $27 million expansion of the National Civil Rights Museum is nearing its final stages.

The project, which utilizes 3,500 to 4,000 square feet of previously unused space in the Lorraine Motel, was designed by Memphis-based Self Tucker Architects and Washington D.C.-based Howard+Revis. Juan Self, a principal with Self Tucker, worked on the original design when the museum opened in 1991. The renovation began in 2012.

July 08 2013

The Downtown Memphis Commission (DMC) is excited to announce that the final draft of the Downtown Memphis Design Guidelines is ready for review. The Design Review Board (DRB) will review the document at its August 7th meeting and the DMC Board of Directors will be asked to consider adopting the final draft at its August 21st meeting.

July 05 2013

Passive houses may not be well suited to the Mid-South, although green technology is making it easier to achieve the same goal.

Jack Cowan, owner of an energy audit and healthy home performance business called Cowanhouse (cowanhouse.com), has built two zero-energy homes in Atwood, Tenn., that generate rather than consume energy.

They are not passive houses, which adhere to a rigorous set of standards that emerged from development in Europe and which, Cowan says, aren’t well suited to the Mid-South.

June 22 2013

Construction workers in hard hats were part of the scenery at the National Civil Rights Museum last week while circular saws buzzed in the background and a recording of Mahalia Jackson’s “Precious Lord” played for visitors climbing the stairs to the balcony of the old Lorraine Motel.

The main building of the museum is closed for renovation, but it did not deter visitors to the rest of the museum, including one new feature that seemed to have universal appeal Friday. “It’s awesome,” said Diane Bryant of Kinston, N.C., when she pushed the button of a new electronic “listening post” in the museum courtyard and watched a short video about civil rights history.

June 18 2013

The South Main Design Challenge is an initiative by the Downtown Memphis Commission to generate creative ideas for seven vacant or underutilized spaces and buildings in the South Main neighborhood.

Over the past several months, several teams have contributed ideas for short and long term solutions for seven underused spaces. Concepts were unveiled at South Main Trolley Nights and reviewed by a panel of judges.

June 15 2013

Self-Tucker Architects wants to lift the aspirations of the community through great architecture and design.

The firm is currently involved with a variety of high-profile projects across the area, including the National Civil Rights Museum and the new ground transportation center at Memphis International Airport, and past work includes the Stax Museum, Stax Music Academy and the FedExForum.

June 15 2013

Memphis architecture industry emerging from depths of recession

Architectural firms that were thrown into a deep, dark hole following the Great Recession are finally starting to see light again.
The only worry is that the light at the end of the tunnel is another recession-driven train, threatening to again pummel the architectural community.
“I wouldn’t say that boom times are around the corner,” said Kirk Bobo of Hnedak Bobo Group Inc. “But there are good things happening out there if you know where to look.”

June 04 2013

I was born in 1954 in South Memphis. At that time, it was a solid, all-black, middle-class neighborhood of teachers, postal workers, school principals, ministers — all professional people. We lived down the street
from our elementary school, Walker Elementary, which is now the Ida B. Wells Academy. I’m the oldest; my sister is one year younger, and my brother is six years younger. My mother still lives in the same house that we grew up in. There were a lot of other children in the neighborhood, and we’d play outside with them. We shot marbles, rode bikes, and played basketball in our backyard. WDIA had a baseball league in Bellevue Park. Back then, it was OK to go around the neighborhood by yourself and play all day — something, in these times, I wouldn’t let my 15-year-old daughter do growing up.

May 29 2013

Memphis Business Academy, a local charter school, is expanding to accommodate its growth to nearly 900 students. The school, which currently has students in grades 6-12, hopes to break ground later this summer on a 22,000-square-foot building that will hold a new gymnasium and eight new classrooms. The building should be completed by next spring and be ready for the 2014-15 school year, according to Anthony Anderson, the school’s executive director. Memphis Business Academy currently occupies more than 87,200 square feet at its Overton Crossing campus. The school had 850 students this past school year.

March 29 2013

Memphis Specialized Laboratory, designed by Perkins + Will and Self + Tucker Architects, is nearing completion on site of former Baptist Hospital. The building is proposed for LEED Certification and features a green roof irrigated by recycled water and ties into the adjacent UT Campus.

May 28 2013

The business community is putting its money where its mouth is when it comes to the Main Street to Main Street Multi-Modal Connector Project, more commonly known as the Harahan Bridge project.
The $30 million project, which includes improvements from Downtown Memphis to West Memphis as well as making the Harahan Bridge pedestrian-accessible, has received enough private donations to trigger federal dollars and move it forward.

May 17 2013

After all of the architectural drawings are done and construction has begun on a project, the last thing anyone wants is to find out an HVAC vent runs directly into plumbing. That problem is becoming less prevalent, thanks to animation programs that are being used by more architects. Those programs are also helping potential and existing clients see the possibilities of a project more than even the best paper drawing ever could. For Self+Tucker Architects, which is working with developers on Heritage Trail, a master plan that incorporates parts of Downtown Memphis into a coherent design including the National Civil Rights Museum, redevelopment of the Hotel Chisca and the redevelopment of Cleaborn Homes, portraying the vision of the overall project is important in several ways.

April 22 2013

The design is 60 percent complete and the design consultant team, which will be on hand to answer questions, will be able to show basic design as well as some material and color choices.
“That’s a good point for us to reach out to the public and ask for input for where we’re heading,” Carpenter said.
HDR Engineering Inc. is the primary consultant on the bridge portion. The company, which did the project’s feasibility study, is working with a number of local consultants, including ETI Corp., Self Tucker Architects, Ritchie Smith Associates and Buchart-Horn.

March 19 2013

Whether he’s coming in from a meeting off-site with blueprints in hand or creating an aesthetic mock-up for a client in his downtown office, Jimmie Tucker, a founding principal of Self + Tucker Architects, always has Memphis on his mind. From his early days as a carrier for the Press-Scimitar, through which he was able to earn a scholarship to The Lawrenceville School in New Jersey and eventually attend Princeton for undergrad, to his recognizable projects like the FedExForum, STAX Museum and Academy, and Heritage Landing, Tucker is a Memphian who’s passionate about the revitalization of the Bluff City, one building at a time.

March 12 2013

For three growing seasons, Rev. Kenneth Robinson kept a mental tally of the broccoli, cabbage and carrots streaming out of the farmers market at an abandoned fish market in South Memphis. When white eggplant showed up at one of the stalls last summer and no one knew how to prepare it, he made another note.
In June, the notes will be writ large at the corner of Mississippi Boulevard and South Parkway. With $1.2 million in grants, the community development arm of St. Andrew AME Church is opening a green grocer in 3,600 square feet of an eyesore that was the empty Carter’s Fish Market.

February 22 2013

There’s enough of a challenge in designing a new concept for a museum, but updating a museum that was originally built around the site of a historic event presents a whole new set of challenges. Before the $27 million renovation of the National Civil Rights Museum began earlier this year, Self+Tucker Architects was tasked with updating the delivery of the museum’s message without altering the message itself.

February 04 2013

Effective March 6, the rental car companies at Memphis International will move to their new home on levels one and two of the new seven-level Ground Transportation Center. Rental car companies will be able to house all of their customer service operations within the Center, including rental operations, return services and quick-turnaround vehicle service. More than 1,200 rental car spaces are available. The complete auto rental capabilities will eliminate any need for shuttle buses for the rental car companies, creating a more environmental approach to rental car services and reducing overall congestion along the airport roadways.

January 25 2013

Presented by CB Richard Ellis Memphis, Building Memphis is designed to be a broad commercial real estate recognition program honoring projects that have created a positive community impact in the areas of investment, new jobs, environmental leadership, renovation or revitalization. The event’s gold sponsor is Bass, Berry & Sims.

January 18 2013

A Los Angeles-based developer is working with the Church of God in Christ to redevelop the former site of Fowler Homes into Mason Village, which would include 77 units of affordable housing.
John Stanley Inc. and COGIC are collaborating on the project, which has an estimated budget of $8 million. Memphis-based architecture firm Self Tucker Architects is designing Mason Village. Fowler Homes, a public housing project located at Fourth Avenue and Crump Boulevard, was torn down in 2004. The land, which is owned by COGIC, has been vacant since then.

January 15 2013

Tuesday, Jan. 15, would have been the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s 84th birthday. In the almost 45 years since his assassination at the Lorraine Motel, the South Main district and Downtown as a whole have certainly seen its ebbs and flows. But 2013 has the potential to be one of the years in which the civil rights icon would be most proud of the area’s revitalization.
The National Civil Rights Museum is pumping $27.5 million into renovations to the Lorraine Motel and its newly acquired administrative building on St. Martin Street. The footprint of the facility won’t change, but the way the space is used will be greatly enhanced by early 2014 when it reopens.

November 21 2012

Why It Matters:
“It’s critical that we focus on this area [Memphis Heritage Trail] at this time, because we are in the midst of renovating and rebuilding in this zone and if we are not careful in our progress we will overlook and build over and tear down some of the essential components of this great history.” — A C Wharton, mayor, City of Memphis

September 22 2012

Jenga transformed from a family game-night favorite into a life-size version that occupied a Downtown Memphis parking space Friday, with players standing on ladders and chasing after pieces that blew away in the wind.

Shane Donahue, 24, who moved to Memphis from Oakland, Calif. three weeks ago, left a parking space that was hosting giant mini tennis – tennis with giant rackets and a miniature net – sponsored by the Racquet Club of Memphis, to play life-size Jenga in the space across the street.

August 16 2012

A Downtown development board approved a $200,000 loan Wednesday for a health club and restaurant in a long-vacant building at 387 S. Main.

The Center City Development Corp. waived a standard $90,000 cap on a development loan for the Downtown Athletic Club and Atmosphere Eurocafe after developers said the lesser amount would stop the project.

August 15 2012

After some initial concerns by the Center City Development Corp. board, a local development team has received the green light to move forward with its plans to renovate the 26,500-square-foot building at 387 S. Main St. into a mixed-use development that will include an athletic club and café.

June 26 2012

About the only thing remaining the same after the National Civil Rights Museum’s $27 million, 14-month renovation will be the room Dr. Martin Luther King stayed in at the Lorraine Motel.

Nearly every other exhibit in the museum is getting a massive overhaul with new technology, redesigned text, and more interactive areas that allow visitors to feel like they were a part of civil rights history. The new design created by Howard + Revis and Self Tucker Architects was unveiled Tuesday night in the museum’s theater.

June 25 2012

When residential and commercial construction hit new boom times – whenever that might be – the rebirth will take place in a new era with new rules. “People are becoming more environmentally aware, and that’s going to change the market,” said Don Glays, executive director of the Memphis Area Home Builders Association. “There are a lot of advantages to buying green, and people are starting to understand that.”

June 23 2012

Starting in November, visitors to the National Civil Rights Museum will be able to do what others haven’t been allowed—stand on the balcony where Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968.

The main building of the museum, which opened in 1991, is undergoing major renovations and will be closed beginning in November until the first quarter of 2014.

June 19 2012

After just two weeks of Discovering Architecture Summer Camp, the high-schoolers spoke the language. The 18 students didn’t refer, for example, to a “roof” or “wall” as they presented their design projects last weekend to a roomful of parents and professors at the University of Memphis Department of Architecture.

June 06 2012

With the press of humidity and its own expectations, St. Andrew AME dedicated its $1.1 million child care center in South Memphis on Tuesday, memorializing a decreased church member who started the effort five decades ago. The Ernestine Rivers Childcare Center, a white clapboard building with shining blue roof, sits beside Interstate 240 for a reason, Rev. Kenneth Robinson told the crowd.

May 11 2012

Walker says architecture was in his blood from the time he was born, saying his first lesson in architecture was as a toddler playing with building blocks. He says he enjoyed making and demolishing buildings and drawing more than anything else as a child. He realized his life’s passion for architecture and design in 2006, when he joined Self Tucker Architects Inc.

May 06 2012

Self + Tucker Architects is proud to announce that founding partner and managing principal, Jimmie Tucker, has been selected for the second year in a row a Memphis Business “Power Player.” Jimmie is featured in Memphis Business Quarterly magazine’s “2012 Power Players” issue as a top local business leader. The “MBQ Power Players” is an annual feature that highlights the city’s movers and shakers. The editorial board consists of MBQ staff, along with informed business and community leaders.

April 24 2012

Usually Self-Tucker Architects do the design work and planning for someone else who is the developer.But in an open lot on the north side of Chelsea Avenue at Leath Street, seven single- family homes to come in the next year will be the architecture firm’s first steps into developing.
Self-Tucker managing principal Jimmy Tucker was among those who broke ground last week in North Memphis for the Leath Street Initiative. “It’s not a huge leap to do development,” Tucker said. “But obviously being able to buy land, develop a project and attract the financing is one of the keys.” Tucker was among those in the first class of a city of Memphis diversity development incubator that began four years ago.

April 20 2012

A groundbreaking was held April 20 for a new project aimed at redeveloping the north Memphis neighborhood known as New Chicago. The Leath Street initiative will create new affordable housing in the area. Once built, the homes will be offered for sale for about $70,000. The New Chicago Community Development Corporation says currently, quality affordable housing isn’t as available as it once was. The group hopes the project will bring in new residents and make the neighborhood a desirable place to live.

April 20 2012

A cluster of five new houses will soon rise on vacant property in economically distressed New Chicago thanks to a partnership by the city, community development corporation and a fledgling developer. Mayor A C Wharton led the ceremonial groundbreaking Friday for the infill development on vacant property on Leath, just north of Chelsea. “We’re going to do it on three,” Wharton told his fellow shovel-bearers. Actual work on the three-bedroom, two-bath homes for low- to moderate-income families should start in August, said Jimmie Tucker, who’s both the architect and developer.

April 16 2012

With design plans completed, a major new addition to the UT-Baptist Research Park is now targeted for groundbreaking this fall. The $22 million Memphis Specialized Operations Lab will be a 26,000-square-foot facility that will be used for research and development for biotechnology companies trying to get products approved by the FDA. Construction should take 14 to 16 months including time for commissioning, or testing and balancing air-handling equipment and making sure the building operates up to standards – a critical step for bioscience laboratories.

March 23 2012

Jimmie Tucker is Managing Principal and Co-Founder of Self + Tucker Architects. The firm’s slogan is “Designing a Better Memphis” and STA has successfully designed numerous projects, such as the National Civil Rights Museum, the Stax Museum and Academy and the College Park, Uptown and Heritage Landing Hope VI projects that have had a positive impact on the City of Memphis.

February 06 2012

Local business leaders are hoping to turn a productive business briefing into definitive benefits for the Memphis business community. More than 30 local business leaders traveled to Washington, D.C. on Feb. 3 to participate in a Business Leader Briefing at the White House as part of the White House’s Business Leader Briefing Series. The series selects business people from various cities to interact with administration officials about issues including health care reform implementation, infrastructure development and access to capital.

February 03 2012

WASHINGTON – Today is “Memphis Day” at the White House. Obama Administration officials scheduled a four-hour briefing for 28 Memphis-area business leaders – no politicians – to offer guidance but also to engage in an exchange of ideas about what the federal government can do to move the economic agenda forward, according to an administration official speaking on background. The discussion was informed by a survey completed by the Bluff City business leaders that told the White House they were most interested in workforce development, infrastructure and innovation, the official said.

January 31 2012

Choosing a new name, finding a more focused direction and meeting a looming deadline for federal grant money were the objectives of a public meeting on Monday to present ideas for the Memphis Heritage Trai Redevelopment Project.

The project area is bound by Beale Street on the north, Main Street on the west, Crump Boulevard on the south and Manassas Street on the east. It includes significant African-American historical and cultural sites from Robert R. Church Park, Beale Street, the National Civil Rights Museum, the Universal Life Insurance building and Clayborn Temple.

Memphis Heritage Trail Redevelopment Plan

December 29 2011

The Memphis Heritage Trail Redevelopment Plan captures the ‘Story’ by promoting Heritage Tourism as means of cultural and economic revitalization. The proposed redevelopment area includes four major neighborhoods of downtown Memphis: the South CBID, the Downtown Core, the Medical District and the South Memphis. The goal is to revitalize the physically distressed areas of housing and community by rebuilding the infrastructure and linking individual cultural components together in the celebration of the past. Healthy neighborhood practices and sustainable development are key in future development.

Memphis Heritage Trail comprehensive planning effort brings together numerous organizations and individuals who want to contribute to transforming Memphis into a rich cultural hub of the South. Our client, the City of Memphis Housing and Community Development (HCD), headed by Director Robert Lipscomb, in this planning effort promote cultural and economic development by encouraging business partnerships, creating opportunities for financing and grants, and advancing education through arts and culture. STA is pleased to take the lead in this important master plan and major transformation effort. We encourage the community to step forward and participate in this celebration of our past.

December 13 2011

The proposed renovation of the Universal Life Insurance Building is a unique project in which a historic building is to be preserved and restored utilizing the latest in environmental design and technology. Self + Tucker Architects has approached the revitalization of this historic building as an opportunity to show leadership in green design by pursuing LEED Core & Shell Certification for their future offices and design studio. Approximately 80% of the building also will be leased to other tenants.

The Universal Life Insurance Company building is a three-story 33,000 square foot office building designed in the Egyptian Revival style. It was built in 1949 by the architectural firm of McKissack & McKissack of Nashville. This building housed the national headquarters of the Universal Life Insurance Company. Because of the prominence of the site, the Universal Life Insurance Company erected a notable free-standing, post-mounted neon sign at the intersection, which has itself, become a local landmark.

November 09 2011

Mayor Mark H. Luttrell, Jr. appointed the Green Building Task Force to conduct an extensive review of local building codes and relevant technical codes to identify existing regulatory or administrative obstacles to green building, sustainable development, and adaptive reuse. The Task Force, which held its first meeting on September 20, 2011, is comprised of architects, designers, builders, developers, construction project managers, and other interested parties. Self+Tucker Architects is serving as consultant and will assist the Task Force in conducting a best-practices review of existing model green building codes, making recommendations for the local adoption of a model green building code, and looking at any barriers in the development process.

October 31 2011

In the wake of the Great Recession, one local architecture firm is maintaining its focus of designing a better Memphis. Self+Tucker Architects was founded in 1995 by Juan Self and Jimmie Tucker. Overtime, the firm at 505 Tennessee St. has grown to a staff of 20, including eight registered architects. The full-service firm offers architecture-related services from planning to interior design. Its body of work includes the Stax Museum, Stax Music Academy, FedExForum and the National Civil Rights Museum.

June 27 2011

Self + Tucker Architects’ sustainable PHILOSOPHIES/PROJECTS are featured in Shades of Green Tennessee, a fine book by Panache Partners. The publication features vivid photographs and interesting editorial celebrating the state’s most earth-friendly businesses and practices. The exquisite coffee-table book includes a foreword by the United States Green Building Council, Tennessee.

May 20 2011

Self + Tucker Architects is proud to announce that founding partner and managing principal, Jimmie Tucker, was recently featured in Memphis Business Quarterly magazine’s “2011 Power Players” issue as a top local business leader. The “MBQ Power Players” is an annual feature that highlights the city’s movers and shakers. The editorial board consists of MBQ staff, along with informed business and community leaders.

In recognizing Jimmie the MBQ highlighted the FedExForum, Stax Museum and Academy along with three Memphis Hope VI sites among significant local projects. Throughout his career Jimmie has remained highly committed to designing and building better communities.

May 13 2011

Memphis awning and canopy maker Parasol Awnings recently took first place honors for “new and unusual” and “industrial applications” at the annual convention for the Southwest Industrial Fabrics Association.
The winning project for “new and unusual” is the Family Home Health Agency’s new headquarters, highly visible from Lamar Avenue and Interstate 240. The building’s plan had so many different components that each one had a different name.

April 27 2011

Among the modest but mainly well-cared-for homes in the area of Barron and Semmes in Orange Mound, there is a huge blot on the landscape: the abandoned Barronbrook Apartments. That situation soon will change, as city officials and business partners unveiled a $3 million redevelopment of the complex on Tuesday, a strategic move to bolster an old and largely stable area. Half of the dilapidated 200-unit complex will be demolished, leaving a mixed-income development called Melrose Place Apartments.

April 01 2011

As a teenager more than 70 years ago, Martha Rogers was baptized at First Baptist Church-Broad in what eventually became the basement but was back then the only floor. Built in 1917, the baptismal pool was under the raised platform at the front of the church where the minister stood to preach. The platform was removed when the church baptized on Sunday afternoons, said Rogers, 93.

February 18 2011

After a couple of years of delays, the developers of University Place and Legends Park are ready to break ground on 30 single-family residential lots in the new McKinley Park subdivision near Downtown Memphis. Two model homes were finished in January by builder Populace Homes using designs by Self Tucker Architects, says Community Capital LLC president Archie Willis III. Memphis-based Community Capital is the co-developer of the project along with St. Louis-based development and property management firm McCormack Baron Salazar.

January 31 2011

First year Master of Architecture students Jerry Coleman and Mario Walker were among the winners in the Playable10 ART category of the Playable10 International Design Competition for a creative playground in downtown Atlanta. Coleman was the runner-up and Walker received one of two honorable mention awards. The other categories were Playable10 SITE and Playable10 DIY. Both students completed their projects in the graduate architecture design studio taught by James Williamson.

January 31 2011

In August, the Department of Architecture opened its Downtown Design Studio in Memphis’ Uptown Neighborhood. The studio is a key element in the department’s community engagement efforts. During fall 2010, fourth-year architecture students in two sections of the Architectural Design 5 Studio, taught by adjunct professors Andy Kitsinger and Jimmie Tucker, worked out of the new space.

January 28 2011

The long-awaited renovation of the National Civil Rights Museum will begin this spring with a $1 million first hase that will expand the museum’s introductory gallery and add more than 3,500 square feet of space at the Lorraine Motel site that is currently unused. During the initial phase, the museum’s office and administrative staff will move into a building purchased last year by the J.R. Hyde III Family Foundation at 409 S. Second St. that is currently being renovated. According to a deed filed with the Shelby County Register of Deeds, the property was purchased for $590,000.

January 25 2011

Clouds blotted Monday’s sky, but 29 students at the University of Memphis thought mainly about the sun and how to capture it.
These students began what will be a weeklong course from the Tennessee Solar Institute to learn the basics of solar equipment design and installation.

December 01 2010

The National Civil Rights Museum (NCRM), located at the Lorraine Hotel where Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968, will undergo an estimated $20 million renovation updating it’s facilities and exhibition spaces.

November 11 2010

The demolition of the 460-unit Cleaborn Homes will begin before the end of the year, with construction on a $93 million, 400-unit apartment complex beginning next July. The project, first announced in 2007, is expected to be completed by September 2015.

July 05 2010

The 40-year-old Vasco A. Smith Administration Building is getting a long-needed $12 million renovation. The 157,000-square-foot Downtown building houses about 500 Shelby County employees, but has several code and Americans with Disabilities Act issues that must be resolved, as well as an HVAC system with old water pipes that has deteriorated “and is springing leaks all over the place.” “Once we touch it, we have to bring the entire building up to code,” says Cliff Norville, deputy administrator of support services for Shelby County government.

May 17 2010

It took four years of patient labor to accumulate enough submissions from individuals to open the Paul R. Williams exhibit at the Art Museum of The University of Memphis. Set to open Sept. 24, the project will continue through Jan. 15, 2011 when it will hit the road as a traveling exhibit.

February 16 2010

In an attempt to further public knowledge on the life and accomplishments of African American architectural pioneer Paul Revere Williams, the Memphis Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), the University of Memphis, and the Memphis Chapter of the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA) launched this week The Paul R. Williams Project.

January 05 2010

Memphis airport officials unveil plans for ground transportation center that amounts to a new front door for Memphis International Airport. They said the center, which combines passenger parking and rental cars next to the terminal building, will create a dramatic and attractive new first impression for people driving to the airport.

November 13 2009

The gala held at the Peabody was designed as a tribute to 50 Memphis-area African-American men. Tri-State Defender breaks ground with first Men of Excellence salute The first edition of the Tri-State Defender is dated Nov. 3, 1951. It came off the presses under the guidance of a man of excellence – Lewis O. Swingler, publisher and editor.

October 01 2009

Family Home Health Agency, Inc., a not-for-profit that specializes in providing home health services for homebound patients, is moving into a newly renovated 12,000-square foot, four-story office on Minna Place, between Lamar, Bellevue and I-240.

September 10 2009

Archie Willis III, president of financial advising firm Community Capital, had ownership in the home offices of nearly every company he had ever been involved in, so it was a foregone conclusion that he would own Community Capital’s new home.

August 21 2009

The dynamics of a bleak economy render a simple equation when applied to the architecture and design industry.

If financing is tight, then fewer construction projects are started. If fewer construction projects are started, then the need for architectural firms to create blueprints and design buildings also diminishes. And if there’s a decreased need for architectural firms, then some companies are forced to cut staff and many more to implement hiring freezes.